Five Guys to Open 2nd Local Burger Joint

By Sarah Baker

Five Guys Burgers and Fries has inked its second Memphis-area lease – this one in Bartlett – and is close to solidifying two other locations, including one in Midtown.

Jubilee Restaurant Group LLC, owner of the Memphis franchise, has signed a 3,100-square-foot lease in Stage Centre. Five Guys is taking the subdivided end-cap of the 6,660-square-foot space formerly occupied by Blockbuster Video.

Construction has already begun on the site, and the gourmet-burger chain will be open by early May, said Seth Hargett, president of Alabama-based Jubilee Restaurant Group.

Five Guys opened its first Memphis location last summer in Primacy Place, 1615 Ridgeway Road. The high-density traffic at the intersection of Stage and Kirby-Whitten roads is right in line with Five Guys’ real estate standards, Hargett said.

“We’re all about visibility and traffic counts,” Hargett said. “We generally like to stay in end-caps or freestanding. Also, we feel that Bartlett’s just a good town. It fits our demographics, it’s what we’re looking for, the people seem to be hard-working – it’s a Five Guys town, really.”

Hargett said his team has two other locations in the works, including one in Midtown that was started before the Bartlett location.

“It’s going through planning review and all like that,” Hargett said. “I won’t confirm anything until we get everything through, but I do want to say that that deal is working.”

An application for special purpose and overlay districts administrative review has been filed with the Memphis and Shelby County Office of Planning and Development for a Five Guys Burgers and Fries development at 2100 Union Ave., east of Florence Street.

The former tenant, Mid-South Title Loans, moved in August to 4965 Summer Ave. Under the new Midtown Overlay requirements – established in 2010 to create more walkable and bike-friendly neighborhoods – all new construction of commercial users must come through OPD and post a public notice sign.

The owner of record for the 0.34-acre Midtown property is Caruthers Group LLC. The architect listed is Architectwon, and the scheduled engineer is The Reaves Firm.

The Jubilee Restaurant Group has franchise rights from Madison County, Tenn., to Crittenden County, Ark., and plans to open nine stores between West Memphis and Jackson, Tenn., Hargett said.

Besides the Midtown store, Five Guys is working on a deal in Germantown that would have opened in November if it hadn’t been for Kroger acquiring Schnucks last fall.

“We actually were almost ready to sign a lease at the Super D on Germantown Road, and Kroger didn’t want to honor the deal that we had worked out,” Hargett said. “At that point, we were already focused on our other expansion stuff, so it just kind of fell to Stage Centre. But we will have something in Germantown.”